Petersburg Pilot -

Obituaries: Henry William (Bill) Hansen, 88

Henry William (Bill) Hansen, 88, died on January 17, 2013 in Seattle. He was born in Nampa, Idaho on March 23, 1924 to Ole and Jonetta Hansen. The family moved around the Pacific Northwest, from the potato farm in Idaho to logging in southern Oregon and the Mount Shasta region of northern California all were part of Bill's early life. Bill spent his elementary and high school years in Petersburg.

His Dad restored a beached fishing boat in the front yard and went halibut fishing. That is where Bill was first introduced to commercial fishing.

Bill was a good athlete and a standout on the Petersburg High basketball team. Bill wanted to play football, so he transferred to Hill Military Academy near Portland, Ore. For his senior year. He returned to Petersburg to graduate with his class in June of 1943.

Upon graduation he was drafted. After six months in the Army, he was selected for the Army Air Corp and began training to become a P-51fighter pilot. The week after he graduated from flight training the war ended but not his love of flying. After being discharged from the Army Air Corps, his mom and dad had relocated from Petersburg to Marysville, Wash. and he joined them. He continued flying from Paine field for business and pleasure. He received his instrument rating from (Boeing) Renton field and became a flight instructor and also had his commercical pilot rating.

He met Mary O'Brien and they were married in 1948.

Bill still had dreams of flying for a living and was being considered by Pan American

Airlines. That dream came to an end when he contracted polio from tainted water in Ketchikan while commercial fishing in the summer of 1953. Commercial fishing in the summer and delivering oil for his brother-in-law's company O'Brien Oil in the winter was his livlihood.

In 1962, he had an opportunity to buy his own boat. The F/V Lloyd, a 60 foot commercial fishing boat joined the family.

Around 1964, Bill was stricken with a rare nerve disorder in his lower legs. With therapy and braces Bill learned to manage the disabilty and even continued to golf, his other lifelong passion.